Stephen Harmon sent us more of his great shots of the Upper West Side in the 1980’s:
The G Spot Deli in the background:
Diana Ross in Central Park:
See more of Steve’s shots here, here and here.
Out Walking the Dog
Central Park Blogger
City Girl Writes
Beccarama
Creative Delites
Food and Things
Upper West Side Style
Meatballs and Milkshakes
Tracy's New York Life
Gotham Girl Chronicles
Average Joelle
West Side Words
Bloomingdale History Blog
Riverside Park Conservancy
One Stop Senior Services
Central Park Conservancy
Community Board 7
West End Preservation Society
Landmark West
Livable West Side
NY Historical Society
Education Council District 3
Campaign Against Hunger
Gale Brewer
Linda Rosenthal
Neighborhood In The Nineties
Helen Rosenthal
Bloomingdale Neighborhood History
Are you sure that tiny diner was on Amsterdam? There was a wonderful tiny place on Columbus and it was between what was then O’Neal Bros Bar and a liquor store…breakfast every Saturday.
How the Upper West Side should be
Including the homeless person standing next to the sign advertising a moving company’s low rates?
I do love the photo of the little girl in the dress playing on the corner. I never see children playing outside (other than school yards) anymore.
What in the world makes you certain the person in that photo is homeless?
I also thought it was a homeless person. Maybe not, but it’s clearly a disheveled man wearing a woman’s coat and carrying a torn suitcase. I wasn’t living on the UWS at the time but I knew several homeless people on the UES during this time who are still there today. It would be interesting to know what became of all of the people in these photos.
I meant, I thought it was a homeless person…I should type by hand instead of using dictation. :/
Wonderful eye, Steve! Capsules in time…
Re: “Capsules in time…”
Yup, take two capsules while playing “Those Were the Days” (theme-song from Norman Lear’s “All In the Family)…. and call your Nostalgist in the morning.
Those are great!
Funny, for a long time I’ve been trying to convince someone that the UWS street signs used to be yellow (before they were brown, meaning landmark status) but had no proof. Now I can point to that top photo.
Speaking of which: anyone else remember that restaurant owned by Baryshnikov on Columbus Ave in the low 70’s called Columbus? The marquee was a big yellow street sign that said Columbus.
Thanks again for these pics! love it!
Brings back so many memories. My grandfather had a men’s clothing store on the corner of 96 & Broadeay for years; Jacks Menswear. Then my father opened a hippy store next door in the late 70’s. He sold landlubber jeans and dashikis, fringe vests; always look for pictures of the stores in the background.
Great pictures – thanks – they bring back many memories. The photo of the G Spot Deli has to be at least late 1982 as that is when USA Today was founded (see the newspaper box in the background)
Is the person in the red coat with a hat a woman or a man dressed as a woman – hard to tell. I don’t care – just curious.
Diana Ross in Central Park – before the riot started.
Apthorp “laundramat.” Well now that’s interesting.
Apthorp laundromat:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1971/02/20/laundromat
At one time there was a long list of service businesses named “Apthorp”.
Apthorp Garage – 216 West 80th Street. Still there but now “Central Garage”
http://collections.mcny.org/Collection/%5BApthorp%20Garage,%20216%20West%2080th%20Street.%5D-2F3XC5IAFB46.html
Apthorp Pharmacy, still around in the same location since 1910.
http://www.apthorprx.com/
The Apthorp Hairdressers, this one eludes me.
UWS in the 1980. The hell hole that it was before Giuliani cleaned up the corruption and criminality of the Koch regime. Upper Waste Side was dirty and dangerous, and totally unattractive in the 1980’s. Only Giuliani and a strong Wall Street brought it back to life.